


A Most Unusual Groupie

by helsinkibaby



Category: NCIS
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-05-09
Updated: 2011-05-09
Packaged: 2019-01-28 16:23:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,318
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12610660
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/helsinkibaby/pseuds/helsinkibaby
Summary: Tim meets one of his groupies.





	A Most Unusual Groupie

  
It was a beautiful day in D.C, and Tim McGee was smiling. A case closed the previous night, a late wake-up call this morning, the prospect of an entire weekend free to do as he pleased, no Probie this or McGeek that … no question about it, it was good to be alive.

Unsure of what to do first, he made his way to his favourite coffee shop, intending to at least partake of a tasty beverage, pondering did he also want to indulge in their waffles. Once inside the door, one sniff of the air decided him and he placed his order at the counter before turning to find a seat. The place was crowded today - he mustn’t have been the only one with a free day, out to enjoy the city sunshine - but when he saw a familiar face alone at a table, head bent over a newspaper, he began to make his way in that direction.

She looked up when he was almost there and her face broke out in a smile when she saw him. If it wasn’t enough to stop him in his tracks - and it was, but he recovered quickly - it slowed him down enough to make sure that he wasn’t interrupting anything. A woman who had a smile like that - and a Kelly Gibbs smile was a sight to behold - might not necessarily be breakfasting alone on a weekend morning.

“I’m not interrupting...” he asked, waving his hand between her and the free seat across from her and she shook her head, pushing her newspaper off to the side.

“Not at all,” she replied, looking up at him with that same dazzling smile. “Just waiting for breakfast... I love the pancakes here.”

“Waffles,” Tim said, and he wanted to kick himself - it hadn’t exactly come out debonair and charming. At least Dinozzo wasn’t here to give him hell about it, he thought to himself.

“Ah, my second choice.” Kelly motioned to the chair he was still standing beside, an amused look on her face. “But if you join me, I promise not to steal any.”

It was on the tip of Tim’s tongue that she could steal anything she liked from him, but mercifully for him his internal editor - who sounded a lot like Dinozzo, come to think of it - stopped him. “I’ll take my chances.”

“I take it you’re enjoying your free weekend?” Kelly asked. “This time is usually lunch for you and my dad, right?”

He was about to correct her, because even with a case closed in the wee small hours of the morning, there was still no such thing as a free weekend at NCIS, not when there was paperwork to be filed. Then he remembered anew who he was talking to and realised that he might just get away with it after all. "Depends," he replied, crossing his arms on the table and leaning forward conspiratorially. "Is your dad in the office wondering why I'm not there?"

Kelly laughed, shaking her head. "Mom called this morning, she had him heading out to the boat practically at first light. They're planning on being gone all weekend."

Tim leaned back in his chair, grinning at the insider information. "Have you, perchance, shared this information with Tony and Ziva?"

Kelly wrinkled her nose in pretend confusion. "When would I have seen them?"

A good question, which raised another good one. "Now I come to think of it,what are you doing this side of town? Someone covering for you at the shop?"

Kelly looked down, a small smile playing around her lips. Not for the first time in their acquaintance, Tim found it adorable, then promptly quashed the thought. He didn't believe in telepathy per se, but when dealing with Gibbs's only daughter, it didn't pay to take chances."It's kind of embarrassing actually..." she told him. "I'm actually celebrity stalking."

"Really?" That piqued Tim's interest. "Someone famous comes in here?"

Kelly nodded eagerly. "One of my favourite authors," she said, pulling a book out of an oversized purse - she had quite the penchant for them it seemed, not that Tim spent much of his time noticing, he reminded himself sternly. When she turned the book over, however, how much time he spent appreciating her fashion choices suddenly became the least of Tim’s worries as his heart stopped beating, then lurched back to life in double time. "Thom E Gemcity." While he was still opening and closing his mouth, Kelly's eyed were dancing, her smile growing wider. "Hey, you know as a matter of fact, he looks a lot like you!" She'd opened the back cover, was showing him his own picture and Tim swallowed hard.

"Kelly..." he began, but she was relentless, quoting the dust jacket at him, and Tim was reminded of how Ducky had once described Kelly - "the perfect combination of her father's stubbornness and her mother's spirit...a dangerous combination if ever I've seen one."

"The adventures of LJ Tibbs... you know, that sounds familiar... Where have I heard a name like that?"

"OK, OK... You've made your point. Just please tell me you haven't shown it to Gibbs."

Kelly raised one eyebrow and snorted in a way that was both unladylike and far too like Gibbs for comfort. "You think you wouldn't have heard about it already if I had?" He found himself nodding in acknowledgement and when he looked at her again, her brow was creased in worry and she was leaning toward him. "Tim, I didn't mean anything... I think your book is amazing."

"You do?" He couldn't help it, the compliment pushed all other considerations out of his head. Aside from his family (who had to) and his agent (ditto), no-one else he knew had actually read _Deep Six_ , so to get a review like that, out of the blue, was enough to make him grin like an idiot. "Really?"

"Yes, really!" Kelly seemed to find his reaction amusing. "I couldn't put it down!" She shrugged. "Of course, it could have been that I was so interested in reading about NCIS from the inside..."

Tim could feel his cheeks heating up, and while he had always planned to deny basing his characters on his co-workers, he knew there was no way Kelly would buy it, and he wasn't going to try to bluster his way past her. "And you're sure your dad hasn't read it?"

She shook her head. "Dad doesn't read crime novels..says he gets enough of that on the job. Neither does Mom...too many bad memories. I'm the opposite... I want to know how all the pieces fit together. I saw the review of the book in one of the trade catalogues, and I thought I must be losing my mind...then I saw the author's picture and it all made sense." A slight pause. "Tim, it really is terrific."

"Thank you." Her obvious sincerity made it easy for the usually self-effacing Tim to accept the compliment and he gave himself a moment to let himself enjoy it. When the moment passed, a moment during which she never stopped smiling at him, he made a joke of his own. "Would you like an autograph?"

“Oh, would you?” Crossing both palms on her chest, Kelly batted her eyelashes as she spoke in a breathless tone that would have done Scarlett O’Hara proud. Grinning, Tim slid the book across the table with one hand, taking a pen from his shirt pocket with the other. It only took him a minute to sign the book, because he didn’t let himself think about what he was writing, and when he slid it back to her closed, his heart rate increased again when she opened it straight away.

“To Kelly, my biggest fan,” she read aloud. “With love, Thom E. Gemcity.” She looked up, eyes meeting his, and it could have been his imagination, but Tim swore there was a flush on her cheeks that hadn’t been there before. “Thank you,” she said, closing the book carefully and returning it to her bag. “It’ll have pride of place on my favourite books shelf.”

Tim blinked. “You have a favourite books shelf?”

“Doesn’t everyone?” Kelly looked genuinely confused and it made Tim smile, shake his head slowly.

“Actually, no,” he replied. “Just book geeks like me, I always thought.”

Kelly smiled, let a small laugh escape her lips. “Mine is within reaching distance of the front door... so that if there’s ever a fire, I’ll be able to grab my Anne of Green Gables box set as I escape the flames.” Now her cheeks did grow decidedly pink. “That did not sound in any way cool or grown up.”

Tim waved a hand. “My sister loved those books,” he told her. “In fact, if I can find a box set I may just get it for her for her next birthday. Too bad I don’t know anyone who has a children’s bookstore... “

He let his voice trail off teasingly and was rewarded by a laugh. “Mine is so old it’s falling apart but I’m sure you can still get it. I’ll check it out for you.”

“Thanks.” There was a moment of silence where both took a sip of their coffee, identical smiles on their faces. “So I’m curious,” Tim said then, “Your dad’s a marine... I’m not sure what your mom does... how did you end up owning a book store?” He regretted the question immediately when a shadow seemed to close over Kelly’s face, when she shifted in her seat and looked down. “I’m sorry,” he said instantly, though he wasn’t sure why. “I didn’t mean to pry...”

Kelly looked up, shaking her head quickly. “No, Tim, you weren’t prying. It’s just...” She took a deep breath, let it out slowly. “It’s not a story I tell often. Bad memories, you know?”

“You don’t have to-”

“I was eight.” Her voice had that familiar Gibbs tone that stopped him in his tracks. “Dad was deployed in Iraq, Mom and I were living on the base and one day, she saw someone being murdered by a drug dealer. She agreed to testify against him and we were put into protective custody. Dad wanted to come home, but she told him we’d be fine.” Her lips twisted in a grimace. “Except we weren’t. They found out where we were and when we were being driven into town one day, a sniper shot our driver and the car crashed. The driver was killed, Mom had a broken arm, broken ribs... and to this day, they don’t know how I survived.”

“Kelly...” Somewhere in the middle of the tale, he’d reached across the table and taken her hand; he squeezed it now. She looked up at him, gave him a brave little smile that just about broke his heart.

“I was in a coma for almost two weeks... internal bleeding, barely a bone in my body that wasn’t broken... at first they thought I was hanging on for Dad. Then I think they realised I was just too damn stubborn to die. He stayed with me every second when he got back... the first thing I remember when I woke up is his voice, reading The Velveteen Rabbit.” Tim blinked at the idea of Gibbs reading any children’s story, let alone that one, and Kelly must have known what he was thinking, because her eyes regained a little of their usual spark. “That’s on my favourite books shelf too,” she told him before continuing. “I was in hospital for a long time... had to learn to walk all over again... and I read a lot. Whenever things got too tough, I’d disappear to Green Gables or Narnia or somewhere else... it was my safe place.”

“And that’s why you started Wonderland.” It made sense to Tim now, because whenever he’d taken his scout troop into the store, very few of them had ever wanted to leave, even those who hadn’t initially wanted to go.

“In more ways than one,” Kelly said, surprising him. “When they investigated the shooting, it turns out there was a leak...that’s how they knew where we were. The navy didn’t want word getting out...”

“Obviously...”

Kelly shrugged. “Dad was furious, called it hush money. Mom and Gramps told him that it was enough money to make sure I got a decent college education and to shut his damn mouth.” Tim’s own lips twitched as he imagined his boss being told that. “Turns out it was enough to get me my degree and have enough left over to start the shop. The rest is just down to luck.”

“I think it’s more than that.” They shared a smile as he squeezed her hand and it was only then that he realised he was still holding it. Surprised he looked down at the table, at their joined hands as if to be sure that his mind wasn’t playing tricks on him, but no, there was his hand, wrapped around hers, showing no signs of any movement.

He looked up at Kelly, found her staring at their joined hands too, a small, sad smile on her face. “Are you panicking because you’re sitting in a cafe holding hands with your boss’s daughter?” she asked him and it was easier than he’d believed possible to answer the question.

“I’m panicking because I’m sitting in a cafe holding hands with the most amazing woman I’ve ever met,” he told her honestly, and the flush that had been pale on her cheeks earlier blazed to life. “And I’m really hoping she’s going to let me take her out for dinner later on.”

A smile spread across Kelly’s face, bright like sunshine, bright enough to make him forget about Gibbs, about work, about protocol, about everything except the woman sitting in front of him. “I’d love to.”


End file.
